Try your pliés and relevés on a large wobble board and you won't soon forget the muscles it recruits or the whole-body equilibrium to which it guides you. With practice, you learn to melt away unnecessary tension so the toes and seat take you up and down while the ankles and knees respond intuitively and the spine grows spacious. Then, for example, when your fondu developpé in center floor isn't going well, you think level the board and—even though you're not on the board—your nervous system activates the right muscles to restore your balance.
I've worked with hundreds of students, from beginner to advanced, who have shared similar experiences of how the board helped them understand with their body the concept of dancing from the floor up. For those working on ballet technique with a wobble board (under careful supervision only), this is the model I recommend.
Fitterfirst 20-inch Professional Balance Boards
The company has been a pleasure to work with and everything I have bought from them has been excellent, lasting quality.
For our purpose training ballet dancers to 1.) find the posterior kinetic chain and 2.) access the deepest turn-out muscles, the large 20-inch model is important because it allows for us to stand in sixth position with the toe joints at the midpoint of the circle and still have the heels in contact with the wood. The large size also offers enough room to stand in first or a tiny second position on the bisecting line of the circle without the toes spilling over the board's edge.
For more information, please contact me.
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